When we had a chance to talk to Ebola* this past Sunday, as parents do, we asked what he'd done all day. He nonchalantly said, "Nothing," as the weather had been too crappy to do a thing. "Helluva storm," he described it, so he stayed in.
As he's a meteorologist, and we've always been a totally weather geek family, it didn't set off any alarms. I mentioned I'd read one of the UK mets I follow had something about a 'tornado' in Wales and I thought that was wild. Ebola said yeah, they're pretty rare in those parts, and that was that.
It turns out he was a master of understatement and had the North Atlantic version of a Cat 1 winter hurricane (named Storm Darragh) screaming overhead.
Classic. Kids, I tell ya.
So, things were rockin' and rollin' across the British Isles all weekend, with peak wind gusts of 96 mph recorded in some places and well into the upper 50s+ spread everywhere else.
On Friday, the UKMet office issued a rare "red warning" for the Welsh coast due to the anticipated strength of the winds from an inbound extra-tropical cyclone. That means "STAY HOME!!!" Additional warnings for the rest of the UK also went out due to high winds and flooding potential for what turned into a multiple-day event.
Sadly, several people were still killed, either when trees went over, thanks to saturated soil and wind or they were trapped in cars on a flooded roadway.
Video of pedestrians being blown off their feet for a good bruising on streets while out and about during the blow is everywhere (ignore the robot voice).
Transportation was severely impacted - planes, trains, and automobiles were all affected by shutdowns or reroutes.
With airlines, those flights already inbound to British airports had to make some pret-tee hairy landings, with the birds doing some serious crabbing to even get close enough to the runway to attempt a landing.
Manchester Airport is already famous among aviation geeks for heartstopping approach videos thanks to its legendary twitchy crosswinds. I can't imagine how terrifying the ride this weekend was.
AY DIOS MIO
No, those aren't drunks flying the planes, but I'd sure as hell be afterward if I'd been a passenger on one of them.
These British versions of our screaming Nor'easters aren't unusual in the least - this storm is already their fourth of the season. It's that this one turned out to be the hummer that comes along every once in a while, and you have to be ready for them.
Many people, much like our hurricanes, weren't prepared, and as with any major storm, tons of folks are still without power right now. Obviously, it's worse because it's winter.
Storm Darragh leaves 200,000 homes powerless, wreaking havoc with toppled trees, damaged buildings, and severe transportation disruptions. https://t.co/tQYNZ8tyRC pic.twitter.com/y2X2WQN2dH
— Danny Hood (@Danny_McK96) December 9, 2024
Recovery is taking longer than usual because of the enormous number of trees that fell across power lines and railway tracks that have to be removed before anything can be restrung.
There's also the UK's peculiar dependence on renewables impeding progress.
How so?
The largest solar farm in the UK, which only became operational this year and provides power for almost 10K homes, seems to have fared poorly during the winds of Storm Darrgh.
So much for 'latest technology,' eh?
Storm Darragh has caused a significant amount of visible damage to a solar farm which was commissioned this year on the Welsh Isle of Anglesey.
The Porth Wen Solar Farm in the north Anglesey is owned by EDF Renewables and can create 49.99MW to power 9,500 households. Construction of the farm began in early 2022 with commissioning taking place this year.
EDF Renewables confirmed to NCE that the solar farm had sustained damage, which was currently being assessed, and that it was currently conducting a clean up.
It further stated repair work and replacement of the damaged panels was expected to last into early 2025, meaning electricity being generated at the farm was halted until at least then.
Just turned the thing on, and now it's turned off again until sometime in the coming year. I can't imagine what the replacement costs for those panels or the environmental clean-up charges are going to set back the company, the government, and, by extension, those lucky ratepayers.
In the video, you'll notice some peaked-looking wind turbines, too. Yeah.
A wind turbine’s rotor assembly and nacelle at Porth Wen solar farm detached from the pole after Storm Darragh https://t.co/N71dC4kX8m pic.twitter.com/ohYs5ni6wz
— National Wind Watch (@windwatchorg) December 10, 2024
...Elsewhere on the island of Anglesey, blades were sheared off a wind turbine which then reportedly caught fire.
Turbines also had issues, which compound the problem when unfortunate but completely natural setbacks occur on an island selling its soul to the climate cult. They have stripped themselves of the reliable baseline electrical power generation that would provide the juice once those wires are restrung - gas or nuclear plants - that destroyed solar farms or non-spinning wind turbines can never provide.
The wind is fickle and unpredictable. By all means, why not bet your country's future on it?
Why, just this morning...
The current output from the entire UK wind fleet has collapsed to 1.75GW.
— BilloTheWisp (@billothewisp) December 11, 2024
So what? You may say. It's intermittent!
Yes it is. But look at how unpredictable it is as well.
O/P at 12:00 is less than 65% of the last prediction published at 11:30 pic.twitter.com/kKCXN5zPII
The UK now depends on additional power generation being available from the continent via trunk lines instead of maintaining its homegrown energy security. The government, both the former Tory and now Labour, act as if the British are not an island and nothing can happen to interrupt the flow of that power when the UK needs it.
But, oh, my gosh - look what happened just a week ago. There was a low power warning, why?
Because there was no power available from the continent for what England was going to need at their usage rate.
OOPSIES
Right now - low power warning on the UK grid from 5.30 PM. This is a surprise given it's still relatively warm.
— John Bull (@54JohnBull) December 3, 2024
Presumably the wind is not blowing and power availability is not being offered on the inter connectors from Europe. pic.twitter.com/2grBz3eSz0
That was before Storm Darragh took out power lines, wind turbines, and the largest solar farm in the United Kingdom.
There's probably a moral to the story or a lesson to be learned for British leaders somewhere in this event. Almost as if it was a warning shot across the bow.
If they could only discard the cult glasses long enough to take a peek.
*Our son was one of the very first computer and gaming savants in the early 90s, winning tournaments and designing "skins" for games not long after Al Gore invented the innerwebs. Unfortunately, he also had a knack for catching the first viruses. One was so virulent that it wiped his computer and all of my work and required one of his father's computer geeks to come from base with a DoD program to finally exterminate it. His uncle Bingley nicknamed him "Ebola," and it has been his nom-de-innerwebs ever since.
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